Sanders Signs with Sydney Kings

Former Liberty men's basketball point guard Jesse Sanders is continuing his professional basketball career after recently re-signing with the Sydney Kings of the Australian NBL. Sanders previously played seven games for the club last fall, averaging 9.0 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.7 steals per game during his first stint with the team.

Prior to joining the Kings, Sanders played for Fileni BPA Jesi of Italy during the 2012–13 season. In his first professional season, the floor general played 25 games, averaging 9.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.4 steals per contest.

Sanders closed out the 2011-12 season No. 3 in the country in assists with 8.0 per game for the Flames. In addition to leading the Big South in helpers, Sanders finished fifth in rebounds (7.8 rpg) and 21st in scoring (12.5 ppg). With his performance on the year, the floor general garnered his second consecutive first team Big South All-Conference honor. During his junior year, Sanders was voted the Big South Player of the Year, earning Associated Press (AP) All-America Honorable Mention.

Sanders made history on several occasions throughout the 2011-12 campaign. In a regular season matchup against 2012 Big South Champion UNC Asheville (Jan. 7), the senior recorded 10 assists to surpass Radford's Amir Johnson (2007-10) as the Big South's all-time assist leader. Three weeks later, Sanders broke a 32-year old record held by Karl Hess (1977-1980) to become Liberty's all-time assist leader.

Sanders became the first player in Division I history to record a triple-double in each of his four collegiate seasons, posting 14 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists in Liberty's 84-78 win at High Point (Jan. 21). The point guard is the only player in Big South history to have four career triple-doubles and at least 1,000 points (1,235), 800 rebounds (815) and 700 assists (727). Sanders finished his Liberty career 15th in school history in scoring, fifth all-time in rebounds and first in assists.